I haven't held my fingers on the Web technology for a long while and wonder if it's possible to learn anything quickly (before I lose my excitement momentum) and become productive enough to make some money.

I guess I can spend 2 months x 5 hrs/day = 300 hrs on it before my brain wakes up and remind me there's a life out there

Is there a cool technology possible to be mastered in that timeframe ?

If you're proficient in Java (or at least one other object-oriented language), then writing a single Android app can certainly be done within your timeframe, from designing (which should be at least half of your dev time) to publishing the first version. Note that you need to keep it up to date after publishing or your customers won't be too happy with you, so sticking with it is very important. This is an extremely competitive market, I wouldn't recommend it unless you already have an idea you just know will blow everyone's mind. Either that or you're sitting on a load of cash you can't wait to blow on marketing.

If you're a seasoned and/or passionate artist, then web design, 3D modeling or game music production might be right up your alley. With ADHD "hyperfocus" you can push out half an album's worth of music or an entire webpage design, complete with CSS and HTML, in two months. These are all very, very competitive markets and are not recommended unless you have a burning passion for them. You also need to have good social skills to sell yourself, because your product doesn't stand on its own most of the time. What I mean by this is that you end up selling your product to people who use it in their product which they want to sell further, so there will be lots of interactions with people.

If you're a photographer you can start selling stock photos. You'll end up earning several cents a day if you really stick to it.

If you're a funny writer or good investigative journalist you can start a blog, this will take a lot longer than two months, but if you stick with it for a few years you will invariably start attracting people and generating income from ads.

If you love being on camera, you're reasonably good looking (unfortunate but true) or look very interesting and you're entertaining, there's YouTube. Do what you love and share it with the world. The ADHD dream, no one day is the same and your intolerance for boredom will keep NT people highly entertained. Same as with blogging, keep it up (very consistently) for a few years and you'll invariably start getting followers.

If you're a good systems administrator and network engineer you can set up a server farm and start selling services. At this point in time you would probably do best starting a VPN service with servers all around the world. Very competitive market, you need a fair bit of marketing to get your product to the top. Know your customers (hint: they want to do illegal things and not get caught), get a good lawyer and keep on top of privacy laws.

Optionally, host websites instead. It's boring, insanely competitive, demands a high level of responsibility and very good social skills for support. Market your services locally to businesses and ensure they get quality support in person, this is the only way unless you're extremely wealthy and can compete with companies like Amazon.

The list goes on and on, depending on your current skills. If you have none whatsoever, then you don't stand much of a chance. There are people in developing nations selling 10 to 20 years worth of experience for less than you can afford to charge for your complete lack of it. You have to come with something really unique or have equivalent skills and have people pick you for your English skills and their cultural comfort.

In the end, even if you have both the social and technical skills, you need to pick one thing and stick to it. You're not going to make a living off one app or one designed web page, that's just not going to happen. You will have to put in much more work and have a lot more discipline and focus than someone who works a 9 to 5. Freelancing is no chill on the beach and collect money or get-rich-quick scheme. On top of that, if you start earning enough to start a business you will have some serious responsibility on your hands, from employees who rely on you for their living to extremely boring accounting stuff and government forms that need to be done on time and perfectly right.

I'm 31 and have run from one IT freelance job to the next and gotten nowhere. I keep thinking "this is the one I will stick with, I finally found it!!" only to get distracted by the next idea that seems even better. It gets boring after two months and I just end up not being able to stick with it, no matter how much I would want stability. I hope I'll get meds soon and that things will change with them.

My suggestion: get a 9 to 5 and stick with it, start doing your freelancing gig of choice on the side and see if you can start making enough money off it to comfortably quit your day job. You need to make sure your average income can carry you through the month with a fair bit left over, because your income is no longer stable and you need to put away a good safety buffer of savings in case everything goes sideways or a month or five just end up being bad for business.

TL;DR: If you're looking to make a living doing this, make sure you know what you're in for. Make sure it's financially viable before you put your livelihood on the line. You will need very good discipline, dedication and a high level of responsibility. It's a major uphill battle, but not entirely impossible if the passion is there.

Last edited by OyVeyKitty; 02-25-18 at 10:23 AM..
Reason: Fixed a word oopsie.

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I never ever succeeded on just mastering a skill. Sitting down for 2 months just building knowledge would not work at all in my case.

For me, building skills is a side product of a project i feel passionate about and can commit to. I see it visually in my head already, cant let it go, and just start trying to create it - often with serious blanks in my knowledge that have to be researched when i bump into problems.

This is how i started to program a computer game i thought should exist at age 14- without any prior skills, and this is still how i approach my professional work today.

So my own advice here would be, find your project of passion and the skill building will go smoothest

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Yeah, I don't have the social skills to keep it going. I've had a few good design jobs and became obsessed with them till completion, but so many people in the field these days.
I'm not really excited by it anymore. I wish I could find a new niche.

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